


neither a god, nor the crown

by vectacular



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, But no sex scenes, Friends With Benefits, M/M, no beta we die like men, sideship: Aoi/Miyu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 12:18:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19356889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vectacular/pseuds/vectacular
Summary: Moving to Den City for a fresh start, Homura Takeru tries out a normal high school lifestyle.Like, trying to find out who's taking kids in a way like he was kidnapped 12 years ago. You know, normal teenager stuff.





	neither a god, nor the crown

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings** : Mentions of sex and drugs. Alcohol use, smoking, kidnapping, violence (mainly at the end), horror elements, disassociation, tiny bit of suicidal ideation, inappropriate coping humour.
> 
> I think that's everything? But tell me if I need to add! 
> 
> I've been writing this for about 3 months now. It's my baby.... But now it is done! My FS server has been going "I can't wait to read all of your fic!" whenever I posted up bits I like on the server, but I'm not sure what you actually thought it'd be from my snippets.... Hm.
> 
> Title from The Restrosic's [Quid Pro Quo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfQYy9Iu3mg&list=PLSWmlpL0mXkz265d7-HoKRz2e9W8ok55o).

_Twelve years ago, six kids were kidnapped in Den City. Young, scared, with the whole town frantically searching for them._

_They were found after three months, and quickly shipped off to their relatives or to a foster home once they were safe._

 

* * *

 

Takeru hops off the train, squinting at the shiny Den City platforms. Starting to walk out of the station, much more well-kept than his hometown’s partially-overgrown train station, he takes a piece of newspaper out of his pocket. 

Frowning, he stares down at the clipping. A missing person, from a whole sea of articles in the Den City newspaper that they get in his hometown. A six year old kid, like he was. _It’s been 12 years. Either I’m just over-reacting, or there’s something going on._ Getting out his mobile with his other hand, he puts the clipping away. 

“Hey. I made it here fine. The train ride was boring...” 

 

* * *

 

Transferring to a new city for school is terrifying enough, especially with poor performance at your previous school due to _circumstances_. 

Transferring to a new city for school, with the city being where you were you kidnapped? And returned on some gut feeling that more kids might be suffering through what you did? 

Somehow, Takeru got to where his new school set him up for housing, and he honestly doesn’t remember how he got there. All he knows is that the small room setup with a bed, desk, wardrobe is all his for the foreseeable future, and that his luggage should be showing up in a few days.

Rubbing his eyes behind his glasses, he takes off his ratty bag and throws it onto his bed. Takeru leaves his room, looking around at the drab lounge and kitchen. He makes his way to the kitchen, opening up the fridge, _someone likes their sandwiches_ , he raises his eyebrows, staring at the store-bought sandwiches. His grandparents wouldn’t stand for him to eat like this, so he mentally composes a grocery list as he closes the door. 

The guy who just _suddenly_ showed up almost gives him a heart attack, and he squeaks. “Hi?”

Mystery guy, who’s not ruled out as a ghost yet, blinks, “hi.”

“I’m. Uh. Homura Takeru? I just transferred,” he rattles on, watching the guy for anything _off_ . Apart from being pale, he doesn’t _seem_ ghostlike, which is good.

“Fujiki Yusaku.” _Right_. This must be the guy he’s now roommates with, considering they’re live in the housing together! “Can you give me one of those sandwiches?” 

Takeru scratches his head, opening the fridge up and getting one of the _many_ sandwiches in there, “uh, here you go. You know, considering we’re living together―” he closes the fridge, seeing Fujiki walk away, “okay then. That’s a no.”

His first day back in Den City. Home of bad memories he’s repressed, and now an anti-social roommate. But it’s fine, he can work with this. 

 

* * *

 

His first week in his new place passes uneventfully. He has nightmares, unsettling memories of things he’d _really_ rather not remember, and Fujiki is pretty much a ghost. He only comes out for food (sandwiches. Once he saw _bread_ ) and water, otherwise he’s in his own room. School starts next week, and so they’ve both gotten packages with their uniforms. He only knows this because they both got delivered at once.

After explaining his food situation to his grandparents, he got sent more money to buy _actual_ food, and so he’s currently eating some cereal for breakfast. Takeru skims through the newspaper, turns the page, then freezes. 

Another missing child. Six years old. This time the article is bigger, and as he reads through it, he sees that her parents are rich. Tearing off the article, he adds it to the other one in his pocket. 

He pushes away his cereal, appetite lost and feeling sick to his stomach.

 

* * *

 

Even now, walking through a wintery Den City unsettles him. It sets off warning bells, regardless of how well he can fend off potential kidnappers ( _very_ well), regardless of how much he’s grown. It makes him feel like he’s six years old again, deep down. 

Taking a cold breath, he stares at the mansion of the latest missing child. 

 

* * *

 

“Oh, thank you so much for the help, young man,” one of the child’s mom’s, Kiyoko, says as she gives him missing posters to put up. 

“I’m happy to help in any way I can. How are you and your wife holding up?” Takeru asks. 

She smiles, looking exhausted, “well… we’re coping.” 

“That bad?” Takeru says lightly, making her bark out a laugh. 

“Yes! We’re considering going to a doctor to get some sleeping pills, so we won’t spend all night pacing. And…. I shouldn’t be telling you this,” Kiyoko frowns. 

“It’s fine! I know someone who was kidnapped,” _me_ , “so I know what you’re going through.”

Kiyoko looks troubled, and yet relieved, “how horrible. Were they found?” 

Takeru grimaces, “yeah. Just… what they went through. It was a lot. It still affects them to this day.”

Tears gather in Kiyoko’s eyes, no doubt thinking of her daughter. 

 

* * *

 

Takeru walks out of the mansion, bag filled with missing person posters, and walks right into someone else. “Sorry, I wasn’t―“ looking up, he stares right into his roommate’s eyes, “―Fujiki?”  

Fujiki’s green eyes narrow, “What are you doing here?” _Wondering how my roommate is so pretty now that I’ve seen him in the sun for the first time_ , and really Takeru, not the time for this! 

Adjusting the strap of his bag, he looks away. Either he decides to pull the good samaritan card (which is still up for debate in his head), or he tells the truth. He could turn it into a joke if Fujiki doesn’t outright laugh in his face. Plus, who would Fujiki tell, anyway? Making a decision, he meets the other’s eyes. “I was kidnapped in this city when I was six, and I think the same people are behind kidnapping this girl.” 

Fujiki looks so shocked that a light wind could knock him over. The other boy opens and shuts his mouth. Maybe he was a little _too_ honest to someone he’s known for less than a week. 

“I’ll see you at home, Fujiki,” Takeru huffs, walking past his roommate. A hand grabs onto his bicep, and he looks behind him to see that Fujiki has snapped out of his shock.

Fujiki pulls him closer, “was this twelve years ago?” He nods, and Fujiki looks stunned again, but this time it passes quicker. “Me too.”

 _What?_ “You too… what?” 

Fujiki rolls his eyes and takes a deep breath, “I was kidnapped. twelve years ago. In this city,” this time _he’s_ the one shocked, “and I think you’re right about these new kidnappings. That they were the ones who took us.” 

 

* * *

 

“You were one of of the six kidnapped along with me?” Takeru asks quietly after a silent walk together home. 

Fujiki nods, eyes far away, “we were stored in white sheds. I never knew there were six of us until we were rescued.”

Takeru flinches, mind shying away from what Fujiki describes, willing himself to not get lost in the feelings of terror. “They…” he gulps, “they fed us only once a day. At sunset.” He can taste the food now. Grapes and bread and disgusting cranberry juice. He can see the sunset behind the person who gave him his food. 

Taking a deep breath, he shakes himself out of the memory, forcing himself to Fujiki’s eyes. There’s a silence as they begin to understand their shared trauma. 

And that it could be starting again, for two innocent kids. 

 

* * *

 

Takeru may say his memories are repressed, but it’s more of a hope. He remembers everything, and on a good day, it’s on the edge of his consciousness, waiting for cracks in his mental state, to remind him again. After their revelation, they stayed out on the couch all night, TV on in front of them, knowing they won’t want to sleep that night. 

It’s ten, according to the news, when he gets up to make something to eat. “I can cook, you know. I’d be happy to make enough for both of us, so you don’t have to live on sandwiches,” Takeru says quietly.

He’s washed the rice and put it into a pot before Fujiki replies, “that’d be… nice.” Takeru hums, getting out some meat, “where’d you learn to cook?” 

“My grandparents taught me. They took me in, after,” he pauses, “my parents… they died, while looking for me,” Takeru breathes deeply, rubbing his eyes. The pain in his heart is lesser than it was at first, but it’s still rough. 

“I’m sorry, Homura.” 

Takeru suddenly giggles loudly, shattering the quiet atmosphere they’ve set, looking over at the other boy on the couch. “After learning this much about each other, you can call me Takeru.”

Fujiki’s brows crinkle, and he turns himself back to cooking, _certainly_ not thinking about how pretty his new friend is. “Yusaku is fine then,” Fujik―Yusaku says. 

 

* * *

 

Putting up missing posters of the second missing child, he considers the itch under his skin. Transferring is a chance for a clean slate, to actually go to school. But it hasn’t even started yet and he’s thinking of skipping it. 

Sighing, he spots a smoking area, and his eyes light up. Surely switching his ‘skipping school’ itch for something like that would work. In theory. Swapping a bad habit for another, but he has to feel _better_ somehow. He goes inside and asks for a smoke, calming down. 

“Are you even old enough for one?” The guy who gave him the smoke asks.

“Probably not, but thanks,” Takeru grins. 

“Friend of yours?” The guy nods towards his posters. 

“Nah, just helping out,” he frowns, thinking of the first missing kid. He should talk to Yusaku about going over to their parent’s place too. 

“Give me a few, I’ll make sure the owner of this place has some to put up,” the smoker waves his hands at the posters, which Takeru provides.

 

* * *

 

The trick to get Yusaku out of his room is with “how it’s made” type shows apparently, considering he put one on and then Yusaku appears from his room not long after. 

“Hey look, I found you,” Takeru grins, showing Yusaku his phone, which has a picture of a cat on it while looking through social media. 

“I’m a cat?” Yusaku says, unimpressed. 

“Yep, you are,” he nods. “I can see the family resemblance too,” he grins, putting the phone right next to Yusaku’s face. The unimpressed look matches the cat’s very well. 

Yusaku huffs and gets out his phone, scrolling through whatever until he stops, “well, this is you,” Yusaku says, showing him the picture of a dog. 

“A dog?” Takeru smiles. 

“You even have the same,” Yusaku reaches out to ruffle his hair, pausing, “fur.” Yusaku takes his hand back, odd expressions crossing his face. 

“Dogs are also awesome, like me.”

Yusaku rolls his eyes.

 

* * *

 

Takeru stretches his arms, “and where are we going again?” He asks Yusaku, who he’s been following since school let out. 

“To see someone I trust. We’re almost there,” and really, Takeru’s not complaining about the walk. His brain is still stuck in school-mode, which involves a headache. And assignments. And trying not to start his introduction in every class like _I’m Homura Takeru, and in my hometown I was known for being an unsavoury delinquent, but I swear I’m better now!_ That’d go over well.

Yusaku walks up to a truck parked on the street, called _Cafe Nagi,_ and knocks on the side. The side opens, showing an older man with purple hair. “Yusaku! And… a friend?” Truck guy’s eyebrows raise. Knowing Yusaku, Takeru’s also surprised that the boy has another friend he trusts besides him. 

“This is Homura Takeru,” Yusaku sends him a piercing look, and he nods, “he was kidnapped by the same people I was. Takeru,” truck guy’s eyebrows try their best to fly off his head, “this is Kusanagi Shoichi,” Yusaku shares a look with Kusanagi, who nods and shrugs, “his brother was also one of the six kids taken.”

“Nice to meet you,” Takeru says pleasantly. Kusanagi sighs, then gestures for them to come in. Takeru leans against the wall, while Kusanagi and Yusaku take chairs inside the van. 

“You know why I’m here, Kusanagi,” Yusaku intones seriously. 

Kusanagi scratches his head and sighs again, “so, I don’t doubt there’s nothing going on with the missing kids, or with the people who took you,” the adult levels a look at them. “But say you do find the people who took you, and find these kids. What do you _plan_ to do? Call the police? Kill them? You can’t just run into this type of thing with no end plan!” 

Takeru grimaces, the thought of going to the police definitely isn’t appealing. He shares a look with Yusaku, “we’ll figure it out when we get there,” Yusaku says. 

Kusanagi sighs yet again, “I’ve decided to help you out with your crazy idea.” Kusanagi points fingers at them, “mainly to keep an eye on you two, so this city doesn’t end up with more _dead_ bodies.” 

Yusaku scowls, then looks at him, probably hoping for him to refuse. But the thought of a _trustworthy_ adult is novel, and Kusanagi seems more worried about them then anything. Takeru shrugs, “okay.” 

The look of betrayal on Yusaku’s face makes Kusanagi laugh. 

 

* * *

 

Yawning, Takeru walks out of his room, finding Yusaku looking through the newspaper on their tiny circular dining table. Takeru walks over, leaning over Yusaku’s shoulder, placing a hand on the table, and the other on the back of the chair, “any news?” 

Yusaku shifts to glare at him, eyes narrowed. Takeru moves back at the look. 

“What?” 

“No news,” Yusaku puts the newspaper down. “I’m sorry you have nothing to tear out like an animal,” he says, deadpan. 

Takeru gasps, “well, I’m sorry I don’t carry around scissors all the time so I can cut it out neatly to put onto our board!” The board, hastily put together with information regarding the missing kids, which they’re probably gonna hide somewhere when they get checked on by school to make sure they haven’t wrecked the place while unsupervised. 

“I should take it out next time there’s one,” Yusaku nods, like it’s already been decided. 

“Does it really matter how neatly it’s been taken out, considering how serious it is?” Takeru points out, grinning when Yusaku falters.

 

* * *

 

“Homura, isn’t he weird?” A voice asks during a study period. 

“Is who weird?” He scowls, squinting at the words on the page. 

“Fujiki,” at this, Takeru looks up, blinking at the girl in front of him. Hair in a plait on one side. Kamisha-something? 

“Well, I’m weird too,” he shrugs. 

“Yes, we got that when you showed up this semester with you and Fujiki being joined at the hip, when people have been trying for _years_ to even get Fujiki to acknowledge them,” she states dryly. 

Takeru scratches his hair, unsure how to react. “Um, okay?” 

Plait girl shakes her head then smiles, “I’m Kamishirakawa Kiku, you can just call me Kiku. My friends and I are throwing a party once school is done, and you should come!” 

He blinks, surprised. _A party?_ “That sounds awesome.” 

Kiku cheers, turning around in her chair, “we should swap numbers. You seem like a good guy.”

Takeru’s voice cracks as he laughs, “sure,” he gets out his phone. 

 

* * *

 

Takeru yawns, feeling pleasantly happy as he comes back to the house. The party was definitely fun, as was meeting new people who knew nothing about him at all. Opening the fridge, he considers what to make for dinner. 

“Where did you go?” Takeru tenses, looking over to Yusaku on the couch. 

“A school friend invited me to a party. It was nice!”

“Why did you go?” Yusaku sounds confused and angry, which in turn makes _him_ confused. 

“Because I wanted to? Not everyone's anti-social like you.”  

The other boy stands up, stalking over so the kitchen counter is between them. “What if I needed you for something?” 

Takeru sighs, scratching his head. _Is he serious right now?_ “Then you could call me or text me? I'm not going to forget you just because I'm hanging out with other people, and I'm not going not wanting other friends just because you're jealous,” he finishes softly. 

Yusaku flinches, “it's not―I just. I'm not…” he stutters. 

“Yusaku,” he sighs, resting his arms on the counter. “You're still my first friend here, and considering you went through what I went through, you know the most about me. Our friendship, and our search for the missing kids, is still important, and won't be destroyed by something like that.”

He sees how Yusaku relaxes, looking more reassured, "okay,” he says. “Sorry. I'm not used to…”

“It's fine. Besides, we're in each other’s pockets enough, we need to spend time with other people and doing other things, otherwise we'd get sick of each other. My grandparents always have their alone time and they know their relationship is strong because of it,” Takeru smiles, and Yusaku gives him a tiny smile in return, “now, any requests for dinner?”

 

* * *

 

There’s nothing like a quick shower after his morning run, and he even made good time! With his pants on, he opens the bathroom door while also buttoning up his shirt.

Looking up, he notices Yusaku’s slightly blurry figure at the dining table, probably eating cereal. “No news today?”

“No―“ Yusaku’s head snaps up, and suddenly there’s a sound of choking and Takeru rushes over in panic, but Yusaku seems to get it under control by then, “I’m fine,” the other’s voice is high. 

“Are you sure?” Takeru frowns, watching as Yusaku’s bright green eyes seem to be darting all over the place around him. 

“Yes. No news. I’m. Fine,” Yusaku gets out, coughing once. “Personal space.” 

“Oh. Right,” he steps back, only just noticing how close he’s hovering. “Are you―“

“I’m _fine_ ,” Yusaku says, sounding exasperated. “Go get dressed,” Yusaku mutters.

Takeru looks down, noticing he only half-buttoned his shirt.

 

* * *

 

_A white, rectangular room. A hunger, and a door opening to reveal a shadowed figure, cloaked with the setting sun. The figure throws a plastic bag in, with cheap food and cranberry juice. "Soon, you'll be ready," it says._

_Takeru cries, knowing that escape is hopeless. Wanting to have his parents hug him and shelter him from this white, white room. He curls up, looking at his growing shadow._

_His shadow is on the wall, growing a white grin. "Soon,_ they'll _be ready," his shadow echoes, distorted and inhuman, white grin splitting as it expands up to the roof, "Takeru―"_

Takeru gasps, jolting against something as he comes back to the real world. Calming his racing heart, he looks to find Yusaku staring at him. "Y―Yusaku, what're you―" 

"You were having a nightmare," Yusaku's voice is jarring against his psyche, but it's also soothing. Yusaku's brows are furrowed, and that only makes him notice that his bedside light is now on. 

"I," he gasps, "sorry if I disturbed you," he scratches out. 

Yusaku's brow stays furrowed, "was it bad?" His voice is softer, and his mind reels as a hand touches his, squeezing it lightly. 

He gulps, looking down at their joined hands. "Very creepy," he mumbles, squeezing back as he curls around it, wanting to bring Yusaku's touch and warmth into himself. 

"It's over now," Yusaku whispers. 

 

* * *

 

Takeru checks the newspaper, as he always does. _MISSING CHILD_ is on the second page, and it feels like a stone entered his stomach. _Their third kid_ , he thinks. 

"Takeru?!" He gasps, realising that the paper was shaking due to his hands. Getting up, he puts the newspaper into the other's hands. "We'll find them," Yusaku's voice is determined, leaving no room for any doubts. 

"What if we don't?! What if they only need three, and not six!? What if we wake up one day to find three _corpses_ and we couldn't―"

His panicked rambling is cut off by lips on his. "Stop thinking. We'll find them. Trust me," Yusaku says against his mouth. 

"Is this a propsition?" He grabs onto Yusaku's shirt as he tries to think about the last he kissed someone sober, much less more. 

"A distraction," Yusaku offers, giving nothing away from this close. 

Takeru hums and sets his jaw, bringing his hands up to the other's shoulders so he can walk Yusaku backwards until he's against a wall. Yusaku’s breath hitches, eyes wide. "Good idea," he smirks. 

 

* * *

 

“What should we do, Kusanagi?” Yusaku asks, with them sitting around a table outside the adult’s truck. 

Kusanagi sighs, “we should help the parents. So far, we haven’t found anything from the other kid’s parents, right?” Takeru and Yusaku nod. “We’ll figure something out.” 

Takeru huffs, knocking his foot against Yusaku’s. The other boy doesn’t react, so he brings his feet to hold onto Yusaku’s ankles. Still no reaction, but he knows if he presses against the hickeys hidden under Yusaku’s hoodie… but he doesn’t really want to think about that with Kusanagi around. “Can’t we have some way to find where the kids are being taken? Like where we were found?” He asks.

“I tried looking around online, but the records of what happened to you have been sealed or deleted,” Kusanagi’s tone is frustrated. “And considering how the kidnappers have changed the way they’ve kidnapped the kids, they could’ve moved where they take them too.” 

He groans, sliding down his chair, “great. A wild goose chase.” 

“I can look around deeper online for records about what happened to us. Even just a tiny of info can help us,” Yusaku pipes up, hand going to his chin in thought.

The adult frowns, “make sure not to get into trouble or―”

“I know. I’m not new at this, Kusanagi.” 

“I’m aware of that,” Kusanagi scowls, “I just don’t want you to get caught.”

“And I won’t,” Yusaku says, voice quietly confident. 

“Alright,” Kusanagi doesn’t look convinced. “Now get out of here. I’m going to open up near the lake today,” the adult waves them off the chairs and table so he can pack them into the truck. 

Waving goodbye, they start walking back to their place. “Kusanagi doesn’t think I can do it, does he?”

Takeru hums, bringing his arm around Yusaku’s shoulders, “more like he’s just extremely worried.”

Yusaku scowls, “I’m able to handle it myse―“ Takeru pokes one of the hickeys on the other’s neck, making Yusaku stop and glare at him. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” He says with a smile, poking the spot again. Yusaku shivers against him. 

Yusaku stops walking and grabs onto his shirt. Takeru’s heart-rate rises as Yusaku presses against one of the marks the other boy left on him. 

“Shouldn’t we save this for somewhere more private?” He whispers.

The other boy scowls, moving away from him. “You started it.”

 

* * *

 

Takeru’s in the bathroom, brushing his teeth when Yusaku barges in. He looks like he’s sucked on a lemon. 

“About the―“ Yusaku’s face contorts even more, “sex.” 

 _Ah. That’s why he looks so constipated. An emotional talk._ “Yes?” 

Yusaku looks despairingly at him as he continues to brush his teeth. “You do know it wasn’t― it’s not―“

Takeru spits out the toothpaste and takes his time to wash his mouth as Yusaku’s stumbles verbally. “I _definitely_ know it wasn’t some declaration of love, don’t worry.” Yusaku stops, relieved. Takeru rubs his teeth, looking in the mirror before staring at the other boy. “I’d be fine with it being a friends-with-benefits situation, or we could leave it at that.” 

Yusaku’s brow furrows, face going through many expressions before settling on a blank look. “I’d be fine with the first one.” 

“Sweet,” he shrugs, “your turn for the bathroom now,” he walks past Yusaku, who looks like he needs more time to process the conversation.

 

* * *

 

After meeting Kiku for some studying after school, he's happy to do nothing but watch TV, mind too wiped out from cramming all of _that_ to remember. 

" _The world is currently suffering from an epidemic of lack of sleep. From Asia, to the Americas, all the way to the Arctic poles―_ "

Sliding down the couch, he changes the channel to a game show. After a few minutes of mindless watching and laughing, the front door opens to Yusaku. The other boy goes into his room, coming out in a hoodie. "Why are you watching this?" 

Takeru shrugs, "why not."

Yusaku frowns and sits next to him, looking skeptical as the show goes on. "Out of all the things on, you choose the most brainless show."

"I'm sorry we all obviously can't be tv snobs like you, Yusaku," he teases, smiling even with the other's glare. 

Yusaku leans over to grab the remote. Takeru grins and dangles it out of Yusaku's reach, and they get into a _small_ scuffle over the remote. 

It ends with the remote under his back, and Yusaku straddling him. "If you wanted me like this, you could've just asked."

Yusaku looks unimpressed with his wiggling eyebrows. "You think you're so funny."

" _I'm_ hilarious," he says with a bright grin. 

 

* * *

 

Coming back to the house he shares with Yusaku is a victory after going to school. Going to school sucks. He could see why he never went before Den City. Between assessments, quizzes, after-school cleaning and then a mandatory club for him, it’s a wonder he gets out of bed in the mornings. Part of trying to be a _better person_ , he guesses, which involve things like _going to school_ and _not getting into fights every day._

“Yusaku?” He calls, looking around. Though, if he’s not in the living room, he’s in his room. Which he isn’t. Leaning on Yusaku’s doorframe, he gets out his phone. **are u at kusanagi’s**

He’s getting a snack from the fridge when his phone chimes. **_Yes. Working. Do you need something?_ **

**just checking to make sure u weren’t kidnapped or smth bc u’re always home**

Takeru giggles at his own text, falling onto the couch. 

**_I’m fine. Will be back at 6._ **

**come back w pork for dinner**

 

* * *

 

It’s only a week after the third kid is kidnapped, that the fourth missing article appears in the paper. After placing the article up on their conspiracy board, they lie on the couch. Yusaku’s talking with Kusanagi about the article, and he’s staring at the ceiling, trying not to think. He thinks he made himself disassociate a bit. Or the article did. 

“Takeru?” Yusaku calls, and he hums in reply. “Takeru?” Yusaku calls again, and there’s movement until Yusaku’s head pops into his vision, expression concerned. A hand touches his cheek, slowly bringing him back to his body. “We’ll find them,” Yusaku promises, voice steely. 

Groaning, Takeru reaches under his glasses to rub his eyes. “I know we will. It’s just. Already?” 

“Don’t think about it,” Yusaku whispers, face distressed. 

Groaning again, he puts his arms around Yusaku’s body, switching their position. He lays his head over the other’s heart, sighing. 

“We’ll rescue them,” Yusaku gingerly rubs his back, and he wonders how well Yusaku is convincing himself with hollow-sounding words.

 

* * *

 

In the morning, he always gets up early to do some training, and if it’s not a school day, some running. Currently, he’s doing some punches and kicks in his tiny room. Nothing fancy, just to stretch his muscles. There’s a knock on his door before Yusaku opens it. 

“ _This_ is what you’re doing in the morning?” Yusaku’s eyebrows raise.

He stretches his arms above his head, “and what _did_ you think I was doing?” He says with a smirk. 

Yusaku’s face colours, turning towards the window. “Nothing.” 

“Want something?” Takeru pulls out his most suggestive voice.

Yusaku briefly stares at him before going back to the window, ears starting to turn red now. “Uh. Yes. I…” he huffs, “my online friend. She’s coming up to the city to visit her girlfriend, and,” he gestures, “she wants us to meet. And I said yes.” 

Takeru nods, “okay?” 

The other boy sighs deeply, “and you know I’m not good with. Social stuff…“

“… And you’d like me to tag along?” He finishes. 

Yusaku crosses his arms, shoulders going up to his ears. “Yeah. If you’re not busy, or just don’t want to―“

“Sure, I’ll come,” he smiles. Yusaku relaxes, looking surprised.

 

* * *

 

They meet Yusaku’s friend on a corner near the coffee shop they plan to go in. Yusaku’s friend is a girl with short brown hair, and he watches as they introduce themselves to each other. The girl turns towards him. “I’m Zaizen Aoi.” 

“Homura Takeru. I’m here for social and emotional support, mainly,” he nods to Yusaku, making Zaizen laugh. The other boy gives him a scowl. 

“The roommate! I’ve heard a lot about you.” 

Takeru shrugs, “this is the first I’ve heard of that.” 

“He’s not the talkative type, even online,” Zaizen muses. Yusaku crosses his arms, glaring at them. “Has he ever mentioned his―“

“Can we go inside?” Yusaku cuts in, making him and Zaizen laugh. Yusaku elbows him as they walk into the coffee shop, “I hate you,” he hisses. 

Takeru elbows him back as they get into the queue, “then _you_ go talk to her. She’s your friend! She knows your interests! It should be easy!” 

Yusaku groans. 

 

* * *

 

_White walls. Again._

_The door is open, letting in the sunset, and it feels like it takes him a few hundred years to reach the door._

_Outside, there’s four kids, backs turned to him. Also outside, is five other containers like the one he was in, all in a circle surrounding them. Gulping, he tries to talk, but finds he can’t. He runs up to the kids, hoping to get them out of here, but his hand goes straight through a shoulder._

_He watches helplessly as the kids make their way into the containers, all going their separate ways._

_A hand touches his shoulder, and he turns to see Yusaku. “Yusaku! We have to―“_

_Yusaku’s face suddenly contorts into terror, frozen. Takeru tries to look behind him, but the hand on his shoulder tightens._

_Whatever’s behind him feels massive, like there’s a pillar of malevolent energy, ready to devour._

_Somehow, he feels it come closer, making him tense._ Mine, _pierces into his head and he grits his teeth, staring into Yusaku’s horrified green eyes to center himself. “Yusaku, we have to save them,” he pleads._

_The entity comes ever closer, and before his eyes, Yusaku becomes muscles, then bones. Then dust, and he screams, turning around in pure rage―_

Takeru jolts, getting out of his bed before he’s even aware of it, feeling like he ran a marathon. Taking deep breaths, he wipes his sweaty face, not seeing anything but darkness. “Yusaku,” he whispers, wanting concrete proof that it was just a nightmare. 

After getting his breath back, he walks to Yusaku’s room, who blinks up at him from his desk. Takeru sighs, and Yusaku says something he doesn’t hear due to the relief he feels. Without warning, he leans down to hug Yusaku, feeling reassured as the other boy pats his back. 

“Enough laptop,” he mutters, “we’re cuddling now.” 

Yusaku huffs, hand moving off of him, “okay, but―“ assuming the laptop has been dealt with, he picks Yusaku up by his thighs, hands grabbing onto his shoulders, “hey!” 

Takeru smiles, now looking up at Yusaku, carrying him to the other’s bed before putting him down and going back to cuddling. “Shhhhh.” Takeru calms, feeling comforted by the other’s heartbeat and warmth.

“I could’ve just―“ Takeru moves his hand to cover Yusaku’s face, shushing him again. 

 

* * *

 

Takeru groans as Yusaku gets up, pouting. One time he’ll get Yusaku to stay for post-sex cuddles, but not today, apparently. “And what’s so important that you can’t relax for a minute?” Takeru asks.

Yusaku puts on his shirt, glancing back at him. “Figuring out ways to find kidnapped kids.” 

“Well, you better not work yourself into uselessness,” he says, pulling himself up to drape on the top of the couch as Yusaku walks to his room. 

The other boy stops before the door to his room, “thanks,” with that said, he goes into his room. 

Sighing, Takeru stretches and gets up, looking for his phone. He finds it in his hoodie pocket, which was thrown over the living room coffee table. Putting his boxers on, he flops back down onto the couch. 

Messages from Aoi, her girlfriend Miyu, _and_ Kiku. 

Aoi: **_PLEASE tell miyu that milk before cereal is a crime!_ **

Miyu: **_milk before cereal is the true way and yusaku’s not answering so you better give me an answer_ **

Kiku: **_prty thurs night_ **

As he’s looking through them, he gets another text from Kiku. **_wed afternoon we’re gonna study! and you’re gonna study! gna be studying machines!_ **

**pls spare me kiku :(**

**_no_ **

 

* * *

 

Takeru's watching videos on his phone after a stressful day of school, happy to relax on his bed and forget any homework or assignments he has to do. 

His door slams open, and he blinks up at Yusaku, who climbs on top of him, clutches his shirt and pulls him into an intense kiss. Yusaku ends the kiss shortly, nose crinkled in disgust, "you taste like cigarettes." 

"Ah, sorry?" Takeru blinks, confused by the sudden turn of events. "I could get up and brush my teeth if you want," he gestures around Yusaku. 

Yusaku huffs and lies down on him. "Why do you smoke?" Unlike the derision or judgement he usually hears when people catch him smoking, Yusaku just asks plainly. 

Shrugging, Takeru exits the videos he was watching since Yusaku clearly doesn’t want him to move. "Stress, mainly. Once we find the kids, I'll stop. And compared to what I did before, smoking isn't the worst thing I could do for stress relief."

The other boy stares at him, brows furrowed. "What did you used to do?"

Takeru laughs. "Before I came to Den City, I fought, did drugs, smoked, drunk a lot. One time I tried some speed and woke up two days later with three unconscious people in a field." Takeru blinks, "no idea what happened there, and never did that again."

" _You?!_ " Yusaku looks astonished. 

"Yeah. I also didn't go to school, uh… at all, really. Too busy fighting and going to parties the next town over." 

"But you're…" Yusaku trails off, grasping his shirt, "you don't dress like someone who did that." 

Takeru ruffles his hair, "thanks. Coming here felt like a chance at a clean slate. Even with me needing the glasses," he fiddles with said glasses, "I still feel like a fraud." He grins. Yusaku rests his head on his chest, twining their legs together. With the way he’s being looked at, it’s like Yusaku’s expecting him to get some sort of message beamed into his brain which Yusaku can’t articulate. Takeru sighs and pokes the other boy, “and what about you?” 

Yusaku pouts and lets out a disappointed sound, “nowhere as interesting as yours.” Takeru raises his eyebrows. “I just… never got people. I spent a lot of time on the internet, where I learned to hack. I do well in school, even with not paying full attention to it. The government took me in after the incident, and coming to this school is something I earnt, rather than given to me from them.” Yusaku frowns, looking uncomfortable with talking about his past. 

“Okay. And what about Kusanagi?” 

At this question, Yusaku relaxes a bit, “I visited his food truck often, since it’s cheap. On the anniversary we were found, the truck was closed, and then the next day I asked him about it. He told me about he goes to visit his brother all-day, who was found that day from a traumatic event.” Yusaku shrugs.

“So, no going on life-destroying endeavours?” 

“No. It sounds like you did enough for both us.” 

Takeru chuckles, “you have a point.” He looks up at the ceiling, “if I didn’t come here, I’d probably be on my way to jail, or dead in a ditch or something. It was all some… way for me to feel like I did, before we got kidnapped. I just didn’t want to accept that…“ he gulps, feeling choked up, “I was _here_ , and my parents weren’t. On the really bad days, I just wanted to join them, and it didn’t matter how I got there,”  he whispers. 

Takeru wipes his eyes, blinking away the tears, room quiet for a few minutes. “I don’t,” Yusaku starts, voice small and hesitant, “I don’t know them, but I know _you_ , and I think they’d be proud of you for taking a second chance here.”

“Ugh, Yusaku!” He whines, rubbing his wet eyes again, “I just felt like stopping the waterworks, but you ruined it!” 

Yusaku’s hands go to wipe the tears off his cheeks, “I’m sorry.”

Pouting, he moves his blurry glasses up to his hair, “I’ll only believe that once you clean my glasses, you jerk.” 

 

* * *

 

“What’s going on between you and Fujiki?” Kiku asks one day during lunch. 

“Uh, nothing?” He retorts.

Kiku gives him a flat look. “You talked to him during class yesterday and he started _laughing_! Laughing! We’ve never seen him emote outside of sleeping! What. Is. Going. On?” She gives him a scary look, pointing her chopsticks. _If they’re surprised about laughing, would they have a fit if knew how else I could get him to emote?_

“We’re… friends?” Kiku’s glare becomes more intense. “With… benefits?” He says it quietly, like he’s expecting Yusaku to hear him from the other side of the school and come over to lecture him on _not telling other people his business_. 

She blinks, opening and closing her mouth. “Wow. And… how’s that?” Her voice goes particularly high at the end. 

Takeru shrugs, “it’s a thing.”

“Really? Because I’m expecting you to say it’s a joke.” 

“No joke. Just very good―“ Kiku pinches his ear, sending him a _shut up_ look, “friendship!” He squeaks. 

Kiku sighs and frees his ear, “well, I hope it doesn’t turn out messy for you and Fujiki.” 

“Between him and I, we’re almost a fully functional human, so we’ll be fine.” 

She sends him a dubious look.

 

* * *

 

Takeru enters the house with a yawn, pleasantly tired from the time he spent at a dojo. The teacher there did berate him a lot for bringing a lot of his street-fighting style into his _proper establishment_ , as usual. On the way to his room to put his duffle filled with his gear away and changing clothes, he notices Yusaku on the couch. After throwing it into his room, he returns to Yusaku, who still hasn’t moved. “Yusaku?” 

Yusaku only responds faintly, a tiny hum. Takeru bites his lip and sits next to the other boy. He leans over in front of Yusaku’s face, brows furrowing. Yusaku’s staring vacantly, looking through him, not even blinking. _Lights are on, but nobody’s home._

“Yusaku, hey,” he moves the coffee table so he can sit down in front of Yusaku, looking up at him. “I’m going to take your hands, okay?” Slowly, he takes the other’s hands, running his thumb over fingers. At this, Yusaku blinks and looks down at his hands, then slowly makes the way up to his face. 

“Hi.” Yusaku’s voice says he’s not all there yet, so he smiles and squeezes Yusaku’s hands. 

“Hey babe,” he winces, the pet name coming out with his knowledge. “Sorry.” 

Yusaku blinks, “I don’t mind. When did you get here?” Now he sounds more present, which is a relief. 

“Not that long. Did something happen? Or just one of those days?” Groaning, he gets up to join Yusaku on the couch, happy when Yusaku gives his hands a squeeze back. 

“The second one,” Yusaku furrows his brows, “I think.” 

“And how long have you been dissociating? Well, what did you do once you got home?”

“I got back straight after school and then…“ Yusaku gives a tiny shrug, rapidly blinking his eyes. “What time is it?” 

Takeru laughs and leans his forehead on Yusaku’s, “time for you to get a snack and a drink after being like that for two hours.” 

Yusaku groans and brings his legs up to the couch. “Can you―I mean,” his voice is small, “I―“

Sighing, he reluctantly disentangles himself from Yusaku, “I _guess_.” 

 

* * *

 

Yawning, Takeru leaves his room and goes to the fridge, squinting into it. It's too early, especially after a night filled with bad dreams. 

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he looks around. _He's probably getting ready for school_. There's a newspaper open on the tiny dining table, and he feels a tired resignation as he goes over to look at it. 

_MISSING_

"Takeru," he looks up to find Yusaku doing his school tie, staring at him in worry. 

Sighing, he picks up the paper and throws it back down. "I know. _We'll find them_ , right?" His voice is acidic, and he wishes he could go back to bed and wipe this day away already, but his school record won't allow him to do that. 

"We will."

"And you believe that?! Two fucked up kids with no power and a guy with a hot dog truck can find these now five kids before they end up dead somewhere?!" Takeru scowls. 

Yusaku walks over to him, and he hates how the other boy takes his hand and how it makes his anger abate. " _Yes_." 

 

* * *

 

The Den City parties have mainly been in small abandoned warehouses by the wharf, since no-one’s house is big enough, according to Kiku. They’re tamer than parties he’s been to in the past, considering a lot of them are set in the afternoon to decompress after school, which suits him fine. 

He’s talking to a friend about baseball when Kiku runs up to them, looking excited. “Takeru!! This has never happened before!!”

“What happened?” Takeru blinks, and Kiku’s expression gets confused, like he was supposed to know. She takes his arm, then moves him in another direction, facing― “What.” 

Takeru blinks, wondering if the cheap beer was spiked with something, or if that’s _actually_ Yusaku, standing there with his arms crossed and looking very uncomfortable, like he’s expecting the crowd around him to attack. 

“Uh, I have to―“ He gestures towards Yusaku, and Kiku lets go of him. Moving in between the other students, he makes his way to Yusaku, who relaxes a bit when he gets spotted. “Yusaku?” Curious, he pokes the other’s boy’s cheek and gets a glare in return. “Just checking. What’re you doing _here_?!” 

Yusaku goes back to being uncomfortable, eyes flicking away from him. “I don’t know. I wanted to see what was so great about these.” 

“They’re not really your scene,” he says dryly. 

Yusaku huffs, “is that why you’ve never invited me?”

 _What?_ Takeru opens and shuts his mouth, “uh… yeah?” And now Yusaku’s frowning, and Takeru’s really not getting why. Confused, he takes Yusaku’s arm and walks them to the outside. “I don’t get it. You’d say no since you’re not interested in being around other people―“

“―Maybe I want to be around _you_ more,” Yusaku cuts in. Takeru blinks, letting out an _oh_. Yusaku turns away from him. 

 _He likes being around me enough to come to a party, which he hates_ , he feels his chest fill with warmth at the thought. Grabbing hold of Yusaku’s arms, he turns the other boy back to him, “Babe, that’s so sweet,” Takeru kisses Yusaku’s forehead, causing Yusaku to scrunch his nose up cutely. “But I don’t want you to be more distressed than you already look for being here.” 

Yusaku looks down at the ground, “I wanted to walk out as soon as I walked in the door,” he says gravely, making Takeru giggle. 

“We should go back then.”

“But your party―“ Yusaku looks up, worried, and Takeru has another burst of affection. 

“Maybe I like being around you too,” Yusaku’s worry turns into shock, and he nudges Yusaku until he uncrosses his arms. “Besides, there’ll be other parties as well,” he takes Yusaku’s hand, pulling them away from the warehouse. 

 

* * *

 

**_did you know it’s yusaku’s bday soon?_ **

Takeru stares down at Aoi’s message with wide eyes. **no**

**_i thought not. it’s thursday! me and miyu are gonna visit your place for a quiet thing. cakes already picked out_ **

**how long did it take you to know his bday**

**_years. 6 months. same diff_ **

 

* * *

 

 

The morning of Yusaku’s birthday, he drags Yusaku out to Kusanagi’s truck for Kusanagi’s present. 

The afternoon of Yusaku’s birthday, they’re putting their bags into their rooms when the doorbell rings. _I didn’t even know we had a doorbell?_

Takeru frowns and goes to open the front door to see Aoi and Miyu. “I did tell you we were coming,” Aoi says to his confused expression. 

“I did know that. I didn’t know we had a doorbell,” he shrugs and lets them in. Aoi shakes her head entering, while Miyu comes in with a cake box and presents, setting them onto the kitchen counter as they make themselves comfortable.

“Yusaku!” Aoi shouts, and Takeru rushes to his room to get his own present for Yusaku. The birthday boy has come out of his room, and Takeru puts his present next to the other’s. 

“You didn’t have to do this, you know,” Yusaku’s voice is small as he looks at the counter. 

“But we _want_ to!” Miyu beams, and picks up a blue bag from the counter, “also, you should open my gift first.” 

Takeru scowls and gets his gift to hold out, “no. It should be mine!” 

Aoi sniffs and gets her gift, “you’re both wrong _and_ I’ve known him longest, so it should be mine.” 

Yusaku lets out a long-suffering sigh and rubs his forehead. 

 

* * *

 

“Still nothing from the relatives?” Kusanagi asks, and Takeru slides down the chair. 

“Nope. We’re still on a wild goose chase.” Takeru huffs, staring up at the ceiling of the hot dog truck. 

“I think,” Yusaku starts, and they both look over to him, “I have a way to find them.” 

“And what are you thinking?” Kusanagi looks wary. 

“We borrow a SOL Technologies satellite, or it’s data at least, to look at the Den City and the surrounding cities for containers like the ones we were put in.” 

Kusanagi stares at Yusaku skeptically, “ _borrow_?” 

Yusaku gets out his laptop from his bag and turns it on, setting it on the small counter inside the truck, “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, since SOL Tech is the biggest company in the country,” he pulls up blueprints on his laptop, “to do it we’d have to go into their skyscraper in the city and hack into their direct mainframe. We’d get data for the last few months from their satellite and look through it until we find where they’re being kept.” 

Takeru whistles, impressed, “so this is what you’ve been so focused on, huh.” Yusaku shrugs, looking away. 

Kusanagi crosses his arms, “SOL Tech have military contracts though. What about other companies that won’t have fortified security and armed guards to get into?” 

Yusaku huffs, expression indignant. “SOL is the only place in Den City with good enough tech to do a thorough search. _Plus_ , the fact that they have military contracts means we’ll be able to see black-opped sites through their data, in case that’s where the kids are being held.” 

“That still doesn’t get a way around all the guards and security; not to mention, where are we going to store the data? I doubt grabbing a few terabyte usbs from the store will even hold that much data, and forget if it’s encrypted.” 

Takeru looks between them as they talk, fine with letting them work out the technology. Yusaku scratches his head, “I don’t know. We could make some sort of back-door into it and use a replaceable laptop or something?”

Kusanagi scowls and closes Yusaku’s laptop, handing it back to him. “As ideas go, it’s not bad, but making a back-door untraceable and unnoticeable to a place like _SOL_ is a tall order, not to mention all the safeguards there as well. And the consequences if we get caught…“

“We’ll figure it out,” Yusaku says in that determined way of his. 

“And what about _Takeru_?” Takeru blinks in confusion as Kusanagi motions to him, “is he okay doing something extremely illegal like this?” Kusanagi stares at him, expecting an answer. 

“Ah,” he shrugs, “as long as we find the kids, it doesn’t matter how we do it.” Takeru scratches his nose, “it wouldn’t be the first illegal thing I’ve done either.” Yusaku smiles at Kusanagi’s shocked expression and he thinks back to Yusaku’s ‘ _you don't dress like someone who did that_.’

 

* * *

 

It’s after school, and he’s talking with Go as they walk down the halls. Currently, he’s laughing wildly as Go recounts round of Mario Kart with some of his younger siblings when a hand grabs onto his bicep. Surprised, he finds Yusaku next to him, “can I talk to you?” 

Yusaku’s smile is tight, “uh, yeah?” Confused, he’s suddenly dragged away by the other boy, so waves to Go. “I’ll see you later!” Takeru shrugs to some passing people who are probably giggling at being dragged around by Yusaku. “Did something happen?” 

“No,” Yusaku grounds out, pulling him into an unused classroom and shutting the door. 

“You’re not very convincing.” Yusaku lets go of his arm and takes hold of his shirt instead, pressing him against the wall near the door, then brings him in for a deep, biting kiss. Hands loosen his tie and undo the few top buttons of his shirt. "Really? _In school?_ " He breathes against Yusaku's mouth, his own hands going to pull Yusaku's tie. 

Yusaku hums, breaking the kiss to move down to his neck under his collar. Takeru gasps as a mark is sucked into his skin, then shudders as a hand sweeps down his chest, going under his shirt. 

" _Yusaku_ ," he gasps, placing his own hands under Yusaku's shirt, scratching the hot muscles there. Yusaku moves to the other side of his neck, pressing him against the wall with his body, one hand going to clutch his hair, moving his head so Yusaku can get a better angle for his biting. Yusaku suddenly lets go of him, and Takeru whimpers at the cold air, “ _what_ ― no, no, no, come back―“ he keens, opening his eyes.

“I’ll see you at the house,” Yusaku says, primly buttoning up his shirt and fixing his tie, then reaches out to press against one of the fresh marks on his throat. With that, Yusaku moves away fully, and Takeru’s hand under the other’s shirt grazes Yusaku’s skin as he leaves the room.

Takeru groans, sliding down the wall.

 

* * *

 

“Any plans on the whole,” Takeru waves a hand, “hacking into SOL thing?” 

“We’re still working out the code for it,” Yusaku says, and Takeru slumps onto the table in front of Cafe Nagi. “Plus, getting a good enough laptop which is also cheap for what we planned is difficult.” 

Takeru nods, “I’d help but… I’m not really a tech guy. But. I’m here, for whatever,” he shrugs.

“Thank you, Takeru,” Kusanagi says. After that, Kusanagi and Yusaku get into talking about their code, which easily goes over his head, so Takeru gets out his tablet to scroll through some research for school. 

“Yusaku? Takeru?” A voice calls, and they both look up, Yusaku stopping his chat to see Aoi and Miyu. Aoi looks between the three of them suspiciously, “is something going on?”

Takeru blinks, “why would something be going on?”

Aoi crosses her arms, staring at Yusaku and Kusanagi, “because the code you’re talking about sounds serious and not hypothetical.” 

Takeru looks at the other’s stunned faces. “Well,” Kusanagi and Yusaku give him a glare, which he ignores, “we’re planning to hack into SOL Tech to get some map data so we can find six kids that got kidnapped by the same people who took me and Yusaku twelve years ago,” he sums up. Miyu looks pale all of a sudden, with Aoi staring between them. 

“Twelve years ago?” Miyu asks, voice tiny, and he nods. “I was…“ she gulps, “I was taken, with five others,” she says quietly. 

He gasps, “Miyu,” he slowly gets up, walking towards her and gathering her into a hug. 

“You said… you want to hack into SOL?” Aoi says, and he can hear Yusaku and Kusanagi walk to where they are. “My brother, he works there. I could help!” 

“You’d be willing to help us?” Kusanagi sounds shocked. “Let’s talk inside,” Kusanagi sighs, and Takeru lets go of Miyu so they can all be gathered into the truck. 

 

* * *

 

Shuffling into the living room while rubbing his tense jaw, he sits down on the chair, flopping onto the dining table. “Please kill me,” _nightmares combined to overworking myself at the dojo means world of aching and pain, noted._

Yusaku sighs, and something gets placed near him on the table, “you don’t have school today.” 

Takeru perks up and finds a cup of coffee in front of him. “Okay. I might be willing to live today,” he nods, holding the cup in his hands. “For you,” he coos. 

Yusaku rolls his eyes with a small smile as Takeru gets up to get some painkillers from the kitchen, reaching around Yusaku for them. “So dramatic.” 

Taking out two painkillers, he washes them down with some of his drink. “I was talking to the coffee,” he teases, caging Yusaku in with his body against the counter. Yusaku’s expression changes to a more pensive one, though he doesn’t move from where they are. “What?”

“How did you transfer to this school considering you never went?” 

Takeru blinks and takes another swig of coffee. “The people I partied with _did_ go to school, so they helped me out with _extremely_ long study sessions and letting me borrow their school books to prepare me for the transfer test.” 

Yusaku opens and shuts his mouth, nose wrinkling before smoothing out. “I’m glad they helped you get here,” Yusaku says quietly.

“Me too,” Takeru sculls his coffee and puts it down onto the counter before grabbing one of Yusaku’s hands, “I’m going back to bed. Join me.”

“But I have to―“

“Unless it’s Kusanagi calling you in for a shift, it’s _be cuddled as we sleep,_ ” he interrupts. 

 

* * *

 

One morning, Takeru gets woken up by Yusaku lightly shaking him. Groaning, he pulls his quilt over his face, wanting to get more sleep. “Takeru,” Yusaku’s voice is troubled which makes him open his eyes and pull his blanket down. 

Yusaku’s holding a newspaper, and he doesn’t even need to have his glasses on to know what that means. “The sixth kid,” he frowns and Yusaku nods. 

“They had six of us last time,” Yusaku’s voice is soft and far-away, and Takeru can hear the invisible clock in his head ticking down until six children end up dead. 

“Yusaku,” he tugs onto the other’s hands, “get in here.” 

“But we have to get up for―“

“Five minutes won’t hurt,” he points out and Yusaku sighs, lifting up the blanket and joining him. Takeru wraps his arms around Yusaku, with Yusaku hugging him also. 

“We can find them in time,” Yusaku says against his chest.

“We can.”

 

* * *

 

_Six containers. Six children. He looks around helplessly as the whispers start up, filling his head._

_Takeru tries to scream, to talk, but there’s no sound other than the whispers._

_The children walk to the containers surrounding them. They walk in, and something comes out. Six children, whispering, adding to the sound in his head, the dread in his body._

_The whispering children surround him, and he starts to cry, wishing he could speak._

_“Soon,” they speak this time, in unison. “My sweet boy,” their voice is alien, like they don’t know how to pronounce the words properly and they reach out, eyes full of nothing as they caress his hair, face._

_His cries even more, curling up on the ground, shutting his eyes and putting his hands over his ears._

_After what feels like an eternity, there’s silence, and he opens his eyes, finding only darkness. The silence is heavy, stifling, and he tries shouting again. He has no voice._

_"This world,” his voice booms around him, but not from him. “Will be mine. Like you are,” his not-voice is monotone, “a blink of an eye.”_

_Fear curls in him as he feels something surround him, was always surrounding him ― it starts to choke him, take him over ―_

_"Nothing has changed.”_

_A hand grips his face, and it feels human. Scared, he opens his eyes to Yusaku. With a bloody grin and empty eyes._

_It is inevitable,” his not-voice comes out of Yusaku and Takeru shakes his head_ nonononononono― 

Takeru gasps, heart jackhammering as he throws off his blanket and smashes into the wall across from his bed in his haste to move. He takes a deep breath, trying to calm down his heart, adrenaline giving way to exhaustion. There’s a sound coming from the other side of the house, so he gets up and moves to it. 

Blinking, he looks at the door to Yusaku’s room, opening it. In his bed, Yusaku twists and turns, having a nightmare of his own. 

He gets down, leaning on Yusaku’s bed, “Yusaku, hey,” he says softly, lightly touching his shoulder. “ _Yusaku,_ ” he calls, and luckily Yusaku wakes up, eyes staring at nothing. 

“Ta―Takeru?” Yusaku looks around, only the moonlight from the window making his eyes glow. 

“You were having a nightmare, babe,” he says, voice tired, “like me.” 

Yusaku frowns, taking an arm out of his blanket to hold his face, and Takeru resists the urge to flinch. _He’s not_ that _Yusaku._ “You look like shit,” Yusaku says eventually, and Takeru laughs, planting his face onto Yusaku’s blanket-covered chest. 

“Move over.” Yusaku lifts up his blanket and Takeru moves onto the bed. They tangle around each other, Yusaku’s hand going to pet his hair. Takeru sighs, melting into Yusaku, relaxing as he lightly kisses Yusaku’s throat. Within seconds, they drift off to a dreamless sleep together.

 

* * *

 

“Takeru, can you come inside for a moment?” Kusanagi gestures inside his truck, and Takeru gets up, confused. 

“What for?” It feels a bit like getting called into the principal’s office with the way the man’s staring at him as he sits down on the chair. 

“Yusaku.”

“Um… yes?” Takeru frowns, still not getting why Kusanagi’s giving him such a serious look. 

“You two have something between you,” Kusanagi states and he flinches. 

“It’s―uh―” he flounders, unsure of what he’s even going to say. 

“I don’t want to know about the specifics,” Kusanagi raises a hand to stop him, shaking his head. “ _But_ , whatever’s going on, I don’t what Yusaku getting hurt.”  

Takeru sighs, pulling his legs up to curl onto the chair, “I don’t want to hurt him. Ever.”

Kusanagi exhales, “I know. You’re a good kid. Just… warning you. He’s important to me, another little brother, and if you hurt him in _any_ way…“

Takeru winces from the threatening tone, “got it. I’ll try my best. I don’t want him in pain from anything I’ve done any more than you do,” he offers softly. 

“Good.” Kusanagi smiles, dangerous aura lifting from him. “I was quite surprised when we first met. I’ve said he could call me by my first name, and yet you come along and he says your name like it’s nothing. Like it’s natural.” The older man’s voice is casual, like recounting the weather. 

Takeru blinks, “oh.” He looks down, heart filling at the thought of Yusaku. 

 

* * *

 

It’s the weekend, and Takeru’s bored. He’s dressed in his gi, on the couch while he bandages his hands. 

“Did you get hurt?” Yusaku asks and he startles, looking up at Yusaku’s concerned face. 

“What? No. Just bandaging my hands,” he frowns, thinking he probably got lost in the repetitiveness of the wrapping to notice Yusaku leaving his room. 

“Why?” Yusaku sits down next to him, staring intently at his hands. 

“I’m thinking of going to judo, and wrapping hands prevents bruises showing up that people would ask questions about in school,” he pauses, “it’s also just something to get lost in doing.” He shrugs, finishing off wrapping one of his hands, and getting to work on the other one. 

Yusaku nods, making a humming sound, green eyes focused on his hands. 

The look in Yusaku’s eye is familiar, usually before he gets pounced on. Takeru smirks, flexing his fingers, and Yusaku moves closer, entranced. “There’s also another added bonus of _you_ being into it, apparently,” he says quietly.

Yusaku blinks, face starting to turn red as he turns away. “I don’t…“ 

“Uh-huh,” Takeru wraps the bandage around his fingers slowly, and it doesn’t take long for Yusaku to go back to staring like he’s being magnetized. 

“It’s… interesting…“ Yusaku says carefully. 

“I _do_ know that expression on your face very well,” Takeru points out as he slowly bandages his hands.

“There’s no _expression_ on my face,” Yusaku says automatically.

Takeru wraps the rest of his hand up and puts it onto Yusaku’s throat, feeling the other’s fast pulse. “Right,” he says as one of Yusaku’s hands comes up to hold onto his bandaged hand. 

“W―What about judo?” Yusaku asks as he leans in, hot breath on his face. 

“It can wait,” he whispers. _As long as my clothes don’t get too ruined._

 

* * *

 

Inside Kusanagi’s truck Yusaku, Kusanagi and Aoi are discussing the logistics of the SOL plan. Which is quite crazy now that he thinks about it.  

Takeru sighs, spinning the chair around so he can sit on it, resting his arms on the back. Miyu sits in the other chair across from him, frowning at the truck. 

“You okay?” 

Miyu frows more, clasping her hands in her lap. “I hope we can find those children before anything happens to them,” she says quietly. 

“We will, that’s what Yusaku says all the time anyway,” he grins. “Uh, you know,” Miyu stares at him, “did Aoi know? Before this?” 

Miyu bites her lip, thinking. “I told her that I had a traumatic past, but not about the,” she gestures and Takeru nods. “It’s not really something I like speaking about,” he nods again, understanding completely. 

“What was it like for you? If you feel up to speaking about it, I mean,” Takeru frowns, resting his head on his arms. 

Miyu looks up at the sky. “Once we returned I was… lost. I was on auto-pilot, just going through the motions and not feeling anything. The therapy could do so much, and my parents… they tried to put me into so many things. Music, arts, philosophy, writing, _anything_ they could think of for me to ‘get better.’ One day when I was ten, we went to a mall, and we walked past a pet store. They had such cute cats! And dogs! And birds! Seeing them just… being there, made me so happy. I asked my parents if we could go there and I could pet them, they looked like they were going to cry as they said yes.”

She smiles, thinking back. “Not long after, they brought three cats and a dog for me. The dog was an emotional support dog, and all these animals. I love them so much. They helped me connect back to the world in all their own ways! And then… I slowly started opening up after, I guess.”

“Do you have photos?” He grins, already knowing the answer with how Miyu talks about them. 

She lights up and takes her phone out, scrolling through it. “Yes!” Miyu brings her chair over to his side so they can look through the photos together, gushing over them.

 

* * *

 

After shopping for some supplies needed for their plan, Takeru throws the bag on the ground and sits on the couch. “You should put that away,” Yusaku says, sitting next to him. 

“Oh, and who’s going to see it?” He says sarcastically. 

“The ghost.”

Takeru pushes Yusaku, who chuckles, “don’t even joke about that!” 

“Who says I’m joking?” Yusaku smiles. 

He looks around fearfully, “me, because you’re an asshole.” Scowling, he sees Yusaku open his mouth and goes in for a kiss, shutting him up. He pulls away, and Yusaku opens his mouth again, eyes mischievous. “If it’s about ghosts, then _no_ ,” Takeru huffs, kissing him again. He can feel Yusaku’s smile against his lips as hands tug him down so he’s lying on top of the other boy. 

Yusaku ends the kiss to take his glasses off, putting them on the table and gives him a smirk. “Maybe the ghost’s―“

Takeru pouts and hovers over Yusaku, “ _maybe_ you should shut up,” he says, sucking a mark onto Yusaku’s throat, which does make him stop and moan. 

“Hands,” Yusaku chokes out, and Takeru looks up, confused until he sees that he’s holding Yusaku’s wrists with a hand. 

Embarrassed, he lets go. “Ah. Sorry.”

Yusaku wriggles underneath him, “I―“ he grounds out before pulling him into a kiss, Yusaku’s free hands now going into his hair. 

“You’re very chatty today,” he says into Yusaku’s mouth. Usually, Yusaku’s silent aside from moans, intensely focused on whatever he wants from him. It’s not a problem, trying to draw out all the sounds he can. Yusaku tugs his hair and he lets out an offended sound, putting his cold hands under Yusaku’s shirt. “I was just _saying_ ,” he whines as Yusaku presses up against him.

 

* * *

 

Takeru stares up at the SOL Technology’s building. Well, skyscraper. Even from a few streets away, it towers over every other building.

“If we _somehow_ pull this off, you could start a career as a criminal mastermind,” he says to Yusaku. The rest of their group are at Kusanagi’s truck, since more people would be more of a chance of failure. And with some technical magic Takeru doesn’t know of, Kusanagi and Aoi made it so the camera feeds would ‘loop’ when they get into the building.

Yusaku looks away from the skyscraper, rolling his eyes, “it’ll work.” 

“Movies tell me otherwise,” he says dryly. _Movies, the fact that we’re teenagers, common sense…._

Yusaku rolls his eyes again, putting the oni mask on and hood up. Takeru takes a deep breath and puts his own oni mask on, looking around to see if people are paying attention to them. But it’s like two am, so no.

To actually get _into_ the building, they go to the carpark, ducking under the barrier. After that, it’s avoiding the security guards, which mainly involves Yusaku looking at his watch, slowly directing them through the building. 

The server room they’re going to is twenty floors up, with them going up by the stairs. It’s tedious, and Takeru hopes Yusaku can deal with it. 

Eventually, Yusaku points to the door since they’re now on the right floor. Following behind, it’s more avoiding guards, and the people working overtime. Yusaku leads them into a cleaning closet, where they sit and rest a bit. 

“You good?” He whispers, hearing Yusaku catch his breath next to him. Yusaku nods, and with that, he gets up and leaves the closet. Stretching, Takeru follows, glancing behind them as they make their way to the server room. 

Yusaku looks at him, and Takeru gets the feeling that he’s frowning as they reach it. The plan is for him to stay on lookout outside, while Yusaku goes to upload the code. Takeru gives the other boy a thumbs up then gestures for Yusaku to go. Yusaku gets out the piece of sticky tape with Aoi’s brother fingerprint on it, scanning it at the door, which opens without ceremony. 

With Yusaku inside, Takeru looks around, expecting for someone to walk into the hallway at any minute. He focuses on deep breaths. Freaking out when they’re so close wouldn’t look cool at all. 

After an _eternity_ (eight minutes, his own watch says), Yusaku leaves the room, giving him a thumbs up. 

Now for the part where they leave without anyone seeing them. Takeru _might_ look around too much, making himself dizzy. _Calm down!_  

It’s when they’re at the fifth floor stairs where they take another minute’s rest, leaning against the wall. 

Once they get out of the building and out of the carpark, they walk until they’re a few blocks away, in a small park. 

Takeru takes off his mask, breathing in the fresh air. “So, what kind of criminal name should you have? It has to be appropriately badass!”

Yusaku huffs, “I didn’t do this alone,” he points out. 

“A group name, and then you can get an awesome name, because that was _easy_ ,” Takeru nods. He’d get why movies would show the protagonists being caught, since that was mainly waiting and timing. It was probably exciting on Yusaku’s end with uploading the code. For him, anyway.

“Let’s go. Kusanagi’s probably setting things up and I should help,” Yusaku takes off his mask, throwing it in a trashcan near them. 

 

* * *

 

Takeru yawns, waking up from his nap on one of the chairs inside the truck. Next to him is Miyu, who’s still sleeping, with them leaning on each other. Rubbing his eyes, he gets up to go over to Yusaku, who’s working on one of the laptops with all the data. 

“How’s it going?” He whispers, leaning down to rest on Yusaku’s shoulders. 

“Kusanagi deleted Zaizen Akira’s prints from when we went in, but… lots of encrypted data, which we have to work on decrypting before we can even find what we need,” Yusaku sounds exhausted, and Takeru frowns. 

“Maybe we should go. You’ll work better on some sleep, maybe some food,” he says, giving Yusaku’s temple a light kiss. 

Yusaku stops typing, slumping into his chair. “Okay,” Yusaku sounds quiet, defeated. 

“We _will_ find those kids,” he reminds the other boy, “you’re a criminal mastermind, remember? We just need… time. Patience. Those kinds of things.”

“If I’m the criminal mastermind, then what are you in this?” Yusaku sighs, rubbing his forehead as he gets up. 

Takeru hums, thinking. “I am… your bodyguard!” He grins and he gets a tired smile in return. 

Yusaku and Takeru work to wake everyone so they can all get home for some rest.

 

* * *

 

With the cold weather, apparently Miyu thought it was the right time to go out for ice cream, because she’s that kind of person. He even managed to drag an unwilling Yusaku out to the pier, where they’re all meeting up. 

“I should be working on decrypting the data,” Yusaku huffs, glaring at the ground. 

“Don’t you have some sort of software doing that for you?” He raises an eyebrow as Yusaku moves to glare at him instead. 

Luckily, he’s saved from Yusaku’s biting sarcasm due to Aoi and Miyu arriving, waving at them. Miyu has the leash to a medium-sized fluffy black and white dog and Takeru gasps. 

“Oh my God, can I?” 

Miyu giggles, “she’s retired, so yeah.” 

Takeru goes to his knees, cooing at the dog. “Look at you! You’re so adorable!!” He holds her face, laughing as she licks his face. “Yusaku! Look at her!!!! She’s a baby!!” He squishes her face, looking back to see Yusaku smile at them. 

“How did you know Miyu had a dog?” Yusaku asks. 

“We got to talking while you were planning, and she showed me her pets!! This is Koko, and she’s a wonderful girl, yes she is,” Koko lays her head in his lap, panting under his affection. “Come over and pet her, Yusaku,” he pouts, looking behind him with puppy eyes. 

“Fine,” Yusaku sits down next to him, smile widening as he pets Koko’s fur. 

 

* * *

 

If there’s a _wrong_ time to finally see the obvious of having fallen for your friend with benefits, it’s when he’s sleeping on you after, well, sex. Though, _it_ is nice that Yusaku’s comfortable enough with him to just fall asleep after. Plus, he’s very cute.

And now he’s thinking back to all the times when he was probably looking at Yusaku sappily, not seeing the obvious. Takeru groans and facepalms. 

Yusaku also groans, shifting on his chest, mumbling something resembling “what’s wrong?” in his mostly asleep state.

“It’s nothing, babe,” _babe!!_ He thinks hysterically as he massages Yusaku’s bare skin, “go back to sleep.” 

Yusaku mutters incoherently, but settles. 

Takeru sighs, shifting their position so he can kiss the top of Yusaku’s head, hugging him tightly. 

Can something soft like this love he feels survive whatever will happen when they find the children? What if after, the feelings disappear since maybe they were made from the stress he put on himself with these children? Would him confessing ruin their friendship? 

 _If we survive after finding the kids, I’ll tell him_ , he promises to himself.

 

* * *

 

Takeru squints at the screen, “so it’d be… “ he types into the laptop, “this?”

Next to him, Yusaku sighs and nudges his hands away from the keyboard. “No.” Yusaku clears the code he’s meant to be learning. “You can do this, Takeru,” Yusaku mumbles, focused on putting in another code for him to try. 

Takeru shrugs, feeling Yusaku’s warmth with how close they’re pressed together, laptop in the middle of themselves, “just distracted I guess.”

Yusaku looks at him, “by what?” 

“Well,” he sighs and crosses his arms, “I’m very close to my extremely smart and hot teacher,” he says solemnly. 

Yusaku’s face goes red as he looks back to the laptop, and Takeru watches in fascination as his ears turn red as well. He can never take compliments well, always acting like they never exist apart from his involuntary blushing.

“Maybe we should take a break,” Takeru suggests, leaning over to kiss up to Yusaku’s ear. 

“ _Takeru_ ,” Yusaku shrugs him off, voice embarrassed. Yusaku rubs his neck, face red, “when you get these right, we can do that,” Yusaku says, pointing to the laptop.

Takeru huffs, staring down at the laptop screen with new fire, “see? He’s so smart he knows I’d need some incentive,” he says, watching Yusaku’s face go even redder from the corner of his eye. 

 

* * *

 

Another afternoon spent in the truck, though, the data has been decrypted! So now it’s more sifting through terabytes of data for what they need, according to Kusanagi and Yusaku. 

Maybe he should’ve skipped coming here, like Miyu and Aoi did. Takeru blinks up at the ceiling, then looks to Yusaku, who’s on the laptop. Takeru picks up his chair so he can sit next to the other boy, resting his head on Yusaku’s shoulder. “Find anything interesting?” 

Yusaku grunts, “some, but not what we’re looking for.” 

“Some what? Blackmail material? Shady deals? Could we completely destroy their company if we wanted to?” He grins, feeling excited at the idea. 

“Yes,” Yusaku says simply, not looking away, “but we should find the kids before we try anything like that.” 

Takeru nods, “of course.”

“Takeru!” Kusanagi calls, gesturing for him to come over. 

“What’s up?” 

“I hear from Yusaku that you’re a good cook,” Takeru smiles and nods, “what do you think about working here part-time?” 

“Uh, sure?” He shrugs, “the money would be nice.” 

Kusanagi smiles and pulls out a drawer under his own laptop, getting out some sheets. “I’d like for you to apply right, just so it can be done officially. I gave this to Yusaku as well before he became an employee,” Kusanagi mumbles, handing the application sheets to him. 

“Thanks.” 

 

* * *

 

Takeru slowly wakes up, feeling a weight on his side. Confused, he opens up his eyes to find Yusaku sleeping, hugging him. He definitely doesn’t remember Yusaku coming with him to bed. 

“Yusaku?” He pokes the other boy and the arms around his waist tighten. “When did you get in?” 

“Bad dream,” Yusaku mutters.

“Ah,” Takeru pats Yusaku’s hair, slowly slipping back into unconsciousness, eyes closing, “we should move to a one-bedroom place so we can have a bigger bed.” 

He feels Yusaku’s head move, “you’d want us to live together?” 

“Yeah,” he yawns, “nice big bed instead of these small beds.”

“You’d want that?” Yusaku’s voice sounds small. 

“Yep,” he says. Yusaku says something else, but he doesn’t hear it, falling back asleep. 

 

* * *

 

Takeru groans, words swirling on the page in front of him. Today, he’s studying with Kiku and Go in the school library. “It’s been like ten minutes, can we have a break now?” He puts his head on the desk as they shush him. 

“But you need to get your marks up for Lit, English, Japanese―“ Kiku starts listing off.

“ _Everything_ , yeah, I know.”

“Except for Physical Ed,” Kiku amends. 

He sighs, resisting the urge to ball up the page under him and do something dramatic, like light it on fire. _I need a smoke_ , he thinks, wishing he could not be on school grounds so he simply go outside and take one of his cheap cigarettes out. He’s heard of some students who smoke on school get suspended, and he’d rather not risk it at all. 

Go pats him on the back, “we are here for help, you know.” 

“Yeah. Me and school work…“ he rests his head on his hand, staring down at the paper with distaste, “we never really get along.” 

Kiku tilts her head, “isn’t Fujiki helping you, since you’re roommates?” 

Takeru gives her a withering look, “he’s too busy with his own schoolwork, plus the main thing he’s been teaching me is stuff like coding,” he waves his hand, “Yusaku has too much on his plate without bringing _this_ into it.” _Like searching through a shady corporation’s data to find missing kids_. 

“What do you need help with?” Go asks. 

“Oh, nothing much, just… all of it,” he admits, grimacing. 

 

* * *

 

Usually, coming to the dojo would be nice and calming, in a way. Apart from whenever he gets on the instructor’s nerves because of bringing in his “dirty” style of fighting, that is. 

But today, there’s a heavy gaze as he goes through a kata with his partner for the afternoon. When Yusaku asked if he could come when he saw him in his gi, he thought the other boy would at least look around or get his phone out to do something. 

Instead, Yusaku hasn’t looked away from him at all, and _today_ he’d like to say that’s why he accidentally headbutts his partner. The instructor isn’t gonna like―“ _Homura!_ ” The instructor in question barks, and he winces, putting his hands up. 

“I know! Sorry,” he says to his poor partner, who gives him a disgruntled glare from the floor. Takeru sighs and bows goodbye, walking over to where Yusaku’s sitting, still watching him. 

“Is your head okay?” Yusaku asks as he sits down. 

“Yep, hard-headed,” he knocks on his head. 

“Who yelled at you?” Yusaku’s stare finally leaves him to stare the instructor, but soon enough it’s back to him. 

“He owns the place. He’s not happy whenever I bring in something that’s not judo into his sacred place and all that,” Takeru explains, waving his hands. 

“Are you going back out?” 

“Yep.”

Yusaku hums, pursing his lips and Takeru gives him a confused look. Yusaku’s hands promptly grab onto the collar of his gi, pulling him in for a kiss. Takeru’s brain shorts out, no doubt looking dumbfounded as Yusaku ends the kiss with a smile. 

Still in shock from the very _public_ kiss, Takeru gets up, walking back over to his partner. “Don’t do that again,” his partner says.

Takeru nods, mind still reeling to talk. 

 

* * *

 

“Takeru, what are you doing?” Yusaku asks, and what _is_ he doing? 

He remembers coming out to the living room to go out for a run, but then seeing the sky outside the window. Things definitely get hazy after pulling up a chair to curl up on it to watch the sky, something about it drawing him in. “The sky looks ominous today,” he somehow says, not really sure how. 

The sky itself looks static and grey, and Takeru feels like he’s there, floating among the clouds. 

“Takeru, I’m going to take your hand, okay?” Yusaku says, sounding closer than before. Something touches his hand, holding it, and Takeru’s mind rejects it, focusing on the calm of the greys. “Takeru.” 

He hums as whatever is holding his hand squeezes it, and he turns around, mind still apart of the sky as he stares at Yusaku. 

“Takeru,” Yusaku whispers softly, “I’m holding your hand, can you put your other hand on top of mine, please?” Yusaku smiles and he blinks. 

He furrows his brows and stretches his fingers, the feeling of it weird and like it doesn’t belong to himself. Yusaku smiles at him patiently as he moves his hand on top of Yusaku’s, a part of himself clicking back at feeling the other’s warmth. _Ah. Disassociating._

“Good,” Yusaku says, putting another hand on top of his and lightly caressing them. 

Takeru blinks, looking down at the hands in his lap, “hi,” he says softly. 

“When did you come out here?” Yusaku asks, and he vaguely remembers a time like this. The disassociating thing. Though, coming out of his bedroom…

“About six, I think?” He frowns and squeezes Yusaku’s hands, the sensation feeling alien. “I was going to go for a run.” 

“It’s almost seven-thirty now, and we have to be ready for school soon,” Yusaku says softly. “Are you better now?” Takeru nods and Yusaku slowly pulls himself up from the chair, leading him to sit on the couch. The time in between, it feels like half of his head is missing and he expects himself to fall any moment, though he knows it’s an effect of the disassociating. 

After that, Yusaku goes into the kitchen and Takeru squeezes the couch to get used to a different sensation. He takes a deep breath, feeling like he hasn’t breathed in ages, then rubs his forehead. 

Not long after, Yusaku comes over, “here,” carefully putting a hot cup of coffee into his hands. “Careful,” Yusaku says, and he looks up to see that Yusaku’s worried still. 

“Thanks,” he smiles, gingerly putting both hands around the cup, hoping the warm coffee will make him feel less groggy and exhausted.

 

* * *

 

Takeru stretches as he reaches the front gates of school, where he waits for Yusaku to arrive. He managed to get a few minutes rest during break, and he’d love to get back home so he can fall asleep on the couch. Morning disassociation does not make for an energetic day.

“Kusanagi called,” Yusaku says in lieu of greeting, “he found the data we need a few hours ago, and is looking through it.”

Takeru blinks, mind slowly digesting the information Yusaku gave him. “Should we go over to the truck, then?” 

Yusaku shakes his head, “Aoi needs a few hours to get into the city, so we’ll meet up there once she says she’s close.” 

He yawns as they start walking back to the house, putting his arms behind his head. “Awesome. Need to get a bigger nap if I want to be useful for anything with that.” 

“Is that why I haven’t seen you all day? You’ve been napping?” Yusaku stares at him, brows furrowing in worry. 

Takeru shrugs, “yeah,” in this street, he spots a general store, “hey, hold on,” he says, ducking into it to buy some chips and chocolate. “Napping and food,” he says as he bites into the chocolate bar he brought. 

Yusaku’s worried look seems to increase, “you haven’t eaten either?” 

He swallows down his bite, “well, I’m eating _now_ ,” he points out. “Also,” he gives one of his bars to Yusaku, “this is yours.” 

Yusaku frowns as he looks down to his chocolate, “you should look after yourself better,” he mumbles. 

“Right, like I wanna hear this from the guy who lived off hot dogs and store-bought sandwiches before I came here.”

 

* * *

 

Takeru squints at the screen, feeling marginally better now that he’s had a few hours to nap. “What exactly are we looking for anyway?” Right now, both Yusaku and Kusanagi’s laptops are up and they’re all looking through them. And Den City from satellite view isn’t as interesting as it seems. 

“We’ll know when we find it,” Yusaku says confidently. 

Takeru groans and puts his face onto Yusaku’s shoulder, “sure, why not.” Yusaku nudges him and he puts his head back up, scanning the screen. 

Time passes slowly as they look through every inch of Den City, trying to find changes, like six containers popping up anywhere within the past year. 

It’s over an hour later when Aoi pipes up, “uh… guys?” 

Takeru looks over to Aoi, who’s looking through the map with Kusanagi and Miyu. And currently Miyu looks pale and frozen. Concerned, Takeru moves over, noticing Yusaku coming along, “Miyu?” 

“She,” Aoi cuts herself off and asks Kusanagi if she could use the laptop, moving it back to a forested area, “she saw this and froze,” she frowns. 

Kusanagi zooms in on the area, and Takeru’s blood goes cold. 

Six containers, in a circle. 

“The area seems to be close to a lake near the edge of Den City,” Kusanagi says as he writes down where it is on a piece of paper, though Takeru doesn’t really acknowledge it until Kusanagi closes the laptop and gives them all worried stares. “Okay kids, you need a break before we go off and do something deadly,” the older man says kindly, herding them all out of the truck. 

“Told you we’d know,” Yusaku says quietly next to him. 

Takeru breathes in the fresh air and sits down on the ground. “What do we do now? What if they’re there when we get there?” Takeru asks. 

Aoi and Miyu sit down next to them, “if they’re there, we stop them,” Aoi says, “and if they’re not, we free the kids and get them out of there.” 

“You should have weapons, then,” Takeru says. “Just in case.”

“We’ll find some before we leave,” Miyu promises. “Won’t you need a weapon, Takeru?”

“I won’t need a weapon,” he touts arrogantly. 

“Is he saying this because he fights well, or he’s just being dramatic?” Aoi looks at Yusaku, confused. 

“Both,” Yusaku replies. 

Takeru grins, hand going to his pants pocket, “I already have a weapon as well,” he says as he pulls out his foldable knife. 

“When did you get that?!” Yusaku moves away, alarmed. 

“I’ve had it long before I came here,” he replies. “This city, I mean.” 

“ _I have so many questions_ ,” Miyu’s voice is stunned. 

Takeru puts the knife back into his pocket, standing up and rocking on the spot as he comes to a decision. “You can ask them while I teach you guys some moves, since we _might_ be facing some creeps soon, and I’d feel better if you could defend yourselves,” he gestures for them to get up for his impromptu crash course. 

He wishes he could show them throws, but that’d only work if they had a day or more to sleep off the bruises. “I can defend myself already, you know,” Aoi says, put out. 

“Humour me?” 

Aoi sighs and rolls her eyes, but nods. 

 

* * *

 

After the crash course, they had a dinner of hot dogs as they talked over what they wanted to do. In the end, it was decided that Kusanagi should stay at the truck, while they went to where the children are being held. Kusanagi protested at first, but he just seems resigned once they talk about having weapons. Yusaku says he should be in the truck for a quick getaway just in case.  

As they get closer to the clearing where the children are, Takeru takes deep breaths as fear climbs through him. They reach the edge of the forest and start of the clearing, ducking down.

In the centre of a clearing is a circle, made with kerosene lamps placed every metre around, with some of the kidnappers talking in the middle. “What are they doing?” Aoi whispers, clutching her iron bar. 

“Probably what they wanted the children for,” Yusaku whispers back. _What they wanted us for all those years ago._

“Can we hear them?” Miyu says, and they stay quiet, trying to listen. All they hear is indistinct murmuring. 

“We should get closer,” Takeru whispers, taking out his knife. The others nod and they slowly make their way to hide behind the container closest to them. “Should we go and―“ Aoi elbows him and shakes her head, pointing at the kidnappers. 

Frowning, he looks back over to find them not there. _Where’d they go―_ he looks around, and they all jump as lights at the front of the containers turn on, putting the centre into a bright light. Takeru blinks away the afterimages, rubbing his eyes. 

“Oh no,” Miyu says and Takeru looks up, feeling like his insides have been replaced with cold dread as he watches the kidnappers, now shown in their white hooded coats and white half-masks due to the light, dragging the kids to the centre. 

“ _Shit_ ,” Takeru hisses as they stand in a circle in between the lamps. 

One of the kidnappers stands in the centre of the circle, putting their arms up with a manic grin, “WE BEGIN!” 

The kids stand still in front of the kidnappers, one to each of them, and Takeru wonders if they're drugged or just plain terrified of what's going on, as the kidnappers put their hands up to the sky. The leader in the centre starts to chant, with the rest joining in. 

"The fuck―" Aoi chokes out as they watch with wide eyes. The chanting gets louder, and it feels like there's an earthquake as the kidnappers get out silver daggers, pointing them up the sky. 

"They're gonna kill―" Takeru shouts, heart pounding with what feels a vibration in the air. He runs past the container, slamming into the kidnapper closest to him. 

The guy doesn't stop in chanting, lips pulled into a slasher smile. There's a heartbeat between him moving to stab the guy in the chest, though it only makes him to stop chanting. The guy moves his arms down, slashing him on the arm and then― 

― _The sky is red and filled with something he can't, won't understand and he closes his eyes, the earth the air beating until―_ he gasps, opening his eyes to find his knife covered in blood and the kidnapper dead beneath him. 

"The kids," he whispers to himself, looking up to find his friends attacking the kidnappers, and he shakily gets up to walk over to the kids, spread out in the circle. He's sure he says something like "we're here to save you," but he can't be sure as he leads them away from the fighting. 

Two of the kids move forward suddenly, fear on the faces ― he hasn’t even looked back before a knife stabs him in the gut _and suddenly the world feels doubled. Red sky._ Night sky.

Takeru closes his eyes and **_you have come back_ ** rings through his being as he covers his gut wound, aiming a punch as he turns around. **_I knew you would_ **manifests from the air itself, double-vision only showing the kidnapper every other second, like a messed up strobe-light, and he roars as he cuts into the kidnapper’s throat. 

He moves forward slowly, body aching as he tries to blink the red sky away, hoping it’s some weird stress hallucination. One of the kidnapper’s trying to fight Aoi near him moves suddenly, and there’s a flare of pain in his left leg as a knife plunges into it. 

 _―The world flares red and there’s the feeling of satisfaction, completion so strong he wants to follow it―_ Takeru grits his teeth, acting on pure instinct as he grabs the kidnapper by the shoulder and flips him onto the ground― _fear that feels rancid in his mouth, like a million ants under his skin―_ he pulls the dagger from his leg, plunging it directly into the kidnapper’s heart. 

Exhausted, he collapses on the ground, absently noticing that there’s no more double vision as he looks up at the night sky. 

“They’re all dead,” Miyu says from somewhere and his body feels rubber-like as he moves his hand to do a thumbs up. “Did anyone see the freaky red sky, or was that a hallucination?” Miyu says, voice quieter this time and closer. 

“I saw it,” Yusaku says, and soon enough appears overhead, putting out a hand for him. Tired, Takeru takes it to get up, ignoring the pain as he looks to the kids, counting them. _Six. Good._

“I would’ve preferred you telling me it was a hallucination,” Miyu’s voice is deadpan. 

Takeru lets out a broken laugh as he walks forward to the kids, seeing Aoi next to him. “Kusanagi messaged the families, so there should them or police nearby,” she says quietly, before speaking normally to the children, “we’ll take you back to the main road, where there should be someone for you.” 

The kids shuffle and bump into each other as they walk the opposite way they entered the clearing, where the main road is. 

After what feels like hours, they see the main road, mainly due to the police lights and other car lights as they get closer. Happy, they motion for the kids to leave the forest. Police and relieved parents converge on the kids as the step onto the road, with him and his friends keeping their distance in the forest. 

One of the kids, a girl with black hair, looks towards them, and Takeru puts a finger to his lips. The girl nods, looking back to the officer. 

“Why are you walking like that?” Miyu stands next to him, now worried for him since the kids are safe. 

“I _may_ have gotten stabbed,” he says, grinning. 

“You got stabbed!?” Yusaku hisses, stomping over and throwing one of his arms around his shoulders. Yusaku’s arm goes around his waist, supporting him. 

“Twice, maybe three. Not fatally though!” 

“ _Maybe_ three?!” Miyu frowns, “I’m going to tell Kusanagi,” she says before she bolts off. Aoi goes to support his other side as they follow Miyu, but at a much slower pace. 

“I’ve been stabbed before, it sucks as much now as it did then,” he muses. 

“You’ve been stabbed before?” Yusaku’s tone makes him look over to him, seeing the other’s eyes rove all over him, like he has a mental map of his skin. Which he probably does. 

“Shoulder,” he mentions, and Yusaku’s eyes go straight to his right shoulder, frowning. 

“Good thing Kusanagi has first-aid in the truck,” Yusaku says gruffly.

“We should take him to the hospital,” Aoi says and Takeru shakes his head immediately.

“No hospitals. Nope. None. _Hate_ those things!”

 

* * *

 

It’s a week after the kids were saved, and Takeru’s watching TV. The news has gone crazy over the kids, who say they were saved by _guardian angels_ , that they were locked in their separate containers until they opened mysteriously, showing the dead kidnappers, and then they escaped. Oddly enough, all the police could find was the burnt bodies of the kidnappers, due to their lamps being tipped over (Aoi) and setting them ablaze. The police saw the fire and it was contained before it reached the forest, where it was ripping through the containers.

Since Takeru got hurt the most out of that night, Yusaku, or another one of his friends, somehow managed to produce a (forged) doctor’s note that he couldn’t go to school and had to recover. He’d like to say he got out of schoolwork because of it, but Yusaku just brings it in for him. 

Also, he can’t do any strenuous activity until his wounds are all healed, which means no judo _or_ sex, which truly sucks. 

The front door opens, and Yusaku walks in with a pile of papers, putting the homework on him before going to put his things in his rooms. “How are you feeling?” Yusaku asks, leaning over the couch to scan him. 

“Less stabby by the day,” Takeru says dryly.

“Good,” Yusaku comes around, lifting up his feet to sit on the couch, putting his feet on his lap. “Soon you’ll be up to spending hours annoying that judo instructor of yours.”

Takeru groans, throwing his head back, “but I could be annoying him _now_!” 

“Stop being dramatic,” Yusaku says, a hand going to massage where he was stabbed in the leg. 

“But I _hate_ this,” he whines, pouting. 

“I know,” Yusaku soothes.

 

* * *

 

“―So after Miyu tried Aoi’s flavour of ice-cream, which was peach-something, she goes,” his voice goes deadpan to mimic Miyu’s tone, “ _it’s flavours like this that make me miss the food we had while I was kidnapped_ ,” at this, Hikari giggles as she colours in the cat pictures. “I’m not sure if Aoi was more scandalized at what Miyu said, or that we laughed at it.” Takeru brings out a blue crayon to colour his own piece of paper, which has a sheep on it. “Speaking of, have you talked with the other kids who were with you?” 

Hikari shakes her head, frowning, “mama said it wouldn’t be good for me to be around them.” 

Takeru sighs, “I get where she’s coming from, but being around them is a good way to grow, I think. Considering how much I’ve felt like I’ve grown since I’ve been around Yusaku and Miyu, and her girlfriend of course. Plus, you could make horrible jokes like we make and they’d get it since you went through the same thing.” 

“I told mom a joke that I liked cranberry juice now, and then I said I was just kidding because they gave it to me to drink, and then she started crying,” Hikari picks out a purple crayon. “She said I shouldn’t joke like that.” 

“Eh, sometimes terrible jokes are a good way to cope with what happened,” he shrugs. “What’s lifelong trauma if you can’t joke about it.” 

Hikari looks up at him, “why didn’t you want us to tell them that you saved us?” 

Takeru stops colouring and rests his head on his hand, “the most important thing for us is that you’re safe, and not,”  _dead, sacrificed?_ “In danger from those people anymore. We weren’t looking to be heroes or anything.” 

“I’ll try to convince my moms that I should talk to the others, I want to know them and get ice-cream with them like you have,” Hikari frowns, going back to colouring. “What do you think of my cat?” 

“It looks very nice,” he compliments. “Are you happy to be back home with your moms?” 

“Yep!” Hikari smiles widely, “I hated my room when I got back though. Too white, so we _all_ painted it a pretty bright green!” 

“I’m glad,” he says as there’s a knock on the doorframe, and Kiyoko appears, smiling down at her daughter. 

“I’m sorry to cut this short, but Reiko’s coming home soon and we’d,” Kiyoko wrings her hands and Takeru smiles. 

“Of course! Have fun with your mothers-daughter time!” He chirps, getting his jacket as he waves to them, leaving the house. 

Outside the family house, Yusaku is leaning on a brick divide on his phone, and Takeru’s heart simply overflows with love. Now that the threat of the kidnappers is over, it seems the worry that took up his mind has left to make more space for his feelings for Yusaku.

“You could’ve come in, you know,” he says as nears the other boy, and Yusaku shrugs and puts his phone away. 

“I’m not good with―“ Yusaku frowns as they start to walk back to their house, putting his hands into his pockets, “you know.” 

“Yeah, I don’t believe that.” 

 

* * *

 

“Are you going to go home now?” Yusaku asks, looking out at the lake. 

“No? Holidays haven’t started yet?” Takeru rests on his hands.

Yusaku huffs, pulling his legs closer, “I mean for good, since the kids have been rescued.” 

“Oh.” He blinks, “the thought of going back like that hasn’t crossed my mind. My grandparent’s don’t mind me being here as long as I go visit for holidays and stuff.” 

Yusaku stares at him suspiciously, slowly relaxing, “you’re staying?” 

“Yeah? Do you _want_ me to go or something?” Takeru chuckles nervously. 

“I don’t. I just got this idea that you’d leave.”

“Even if I did leave, we’d still be close. I’d annoy you so much with my texts and calls,” he points out and Yusaku smiles. “And, it’d be cool for you to visit my hometown one day and meet my grandparent’s in person!” Takeru takes a deep breath, “speaking of us being close,” he mumbles.

“What?” Yusaku’s smile turns into a frown, leaning in closer. 

“I’ve realised a thing, over all this time,” his starts off, hoping his voice doesn’t shake as much as he thinks it is, “and I―I,” he screws his eyes shut, “I’m in love with you!” 

After a minute of silence, he opens an eye, seeing Yusaku’s shocked expression. 

“And. Yeah. You’re so amazing and smart and beautiful and I have this… wild thought, that I’d love to be your boyfriend.” Takeru bites his lip to cut off any more ramblings, noticing Yusaku hasn’t moved at all. “Yusaku?”

Yusaku opens and closes his mouth a few times, still looking stunned. “You… me?” Yusaku says eventually.

“Just. Um. If you want, of course.” 

Yusaku frowns, looking out to the lake, “even with you knowing all about me, you’d want for us to be… a couple?” 

Takeru lets out a confused sound, “uh, yeah? You’re great!” 

“But I’m broken,” Yusaku gets out, “I’m not social and―“

“So? We’re _both_ broken,” he interrupts gently.

Yusaku winces, “but still, me?” 

“ _Yes_ you,” Takeru sighs. 

Yusaku continues staring out at the water, thinking. 

"I'm not expecting you to return my feelings or have an answer for them, I just wanted you to know."

"Boyfriends, huh?" Yusaku says quietly, and Takeru resists the urge to say something considering Yusaku looks very concentrated. "Yes,"

"... Yes?" Takeru parrots, confused. 

"What I―I like you too. You're," Yusaku huffs, "even more amazing, and I don't know how to say it, but you choosing me makes me so happy and being a couple… sounds good."

He's so shocked that a light wind could knock him over as he repeats what Yusaku says mentally, "really?" He asks quietly. 

"Really," Yusaku repeats, smiling as he leans in, kissing him softly. 

**Author's Note:**

> And this is one of my long fics done! Which means... I can work on other stuff???? 
> 
>  
> 
> ~~Can I unpost this and continue writing it because I love this little fic so much?~~
> 
>  
> 
> I wanted to post one of my longer fics up before my TAFE holidays end, and considering I have a month more of holidays, I'm very impressed with the time. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are very appreciated! ~~Especially long comments pointing out all the things you like, js.~~
> 
> [Firestorm discord~](https://discord.gg/dhpZN8N) | [Tumblr](https://lenreli.tumblr.com/post/185838664360/firestorm-17k-link)


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